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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28765104">early morning scoop</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/paxaq/pseuds/paxaq'>paxaq</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Deleted Scenes, M/M, S4E03, Sexual Tension, and arthur throws pillows, and sleepy merlin, just tension, no smut sorry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:26:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>624</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28765104</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/paxaq/pseuds/paxaq</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>missing scenes--what really happens when arthur pulls an all nighter from grief and finds merlin on the stone floor waiting for him</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>77</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>early morning scoop</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Arthur steps out of the council room, his eyes cottony from being awake all night. The castle is quiet, unwoken; soft morning light pools in the foyer.</p><p>The guards have left him alone to grieve. He grips the side of the door, taking a slow breath. When he thinks of the future his brain makes a terrible screeching sound, like metal grating, and he sees before him a never-ending whiteness.</p><p>Suddenly Arthur notices a dark figure slumped against the bannister, asleep. Merlin. Waiting for him right outside the council doors. Undoubtedly tried to stay up as well, Arthur thinks, but he’s never been very skilled, has he, in the art of survival…a knight’s anatomical control. Arthur scoops him up like a damsel, long gangly legs reaching almost to the floor.</p><p>“As my servant, shouldn’t you be the one guiding me to my chambers the night of my father’s death?” Merlin twitches in his sleep, head lolling against Arthur’s chainmailed chest. “Honestly,” snorts Arthur. But his face remains grave—the heaviness of the night has not left him. He takes the stairs one at a time, watching the sun light a new day on Camelot. He does not turn back to the council room, and when he reaches his chambers, he cannot think of anything besides closing his eyes, and not needing to open them for a long time. He lowers himself on the edge of the bed, Merlin a forgotten sack in his arms, leans back, and falls asleep.</p><p>**</p><p>Merlin is waking up slowly. His subconscious fights to keep control—he’s having a wonderful dream. At the seaside, a warm breeze tickling his nose. His body floats lightly, and everything around him is soft…pillowy. But something foreboding, some evil dread weighs unseen in the distance, and with a groan, his brain drags itself awake.</p><p>Where is he?</p><p>Definitely not on his pallet at Gaius’s. The mattress below him is far too comfortable.</p><p>Has he been kidnapped? He keeps his eyes shut.</p><p>Then he smells the familiar scent of Arthur’s sweaty chainmail, and realizes the warm breeze tickling his nose is someone’s breath. His eyes snap open. Arthur’s face, dead asleep, is directly in front of him. One hand still curled loosely at the back of Merlin’s head, the other tucked behind his thigh.</p><p>“Ag!” Merlin leaps up, jolting backwards. His back slams into the bedpost, knocking the canopy drape on top of his own head.</p><p>“<em>Merlin!</em>” Arthur shouts, jerking awake, glaring at the pile of fabric with legs now tumbled on the floor. “<em>What</em> are you doing!” Merlin scrambles to untangle himself and stands, the look of an innocent deer splayed across his face. Arthur lays back and drags his hands over his face. “I’d only just gotten to sleep, you arse.”</p><p>“Sorry, sire.” Merlin opens his mouth again, closes it, crosses one boot over the other.</p><p>“Are you going to get breakfast, or just stand there like an idiot?” snaps Arthur from underneath his palms.</p><p>“I suppose…,” says Merlin, mouth twitching, “I should first thank His Majesty…for carrying me about the castle…” Arthur’s hands fly from his face, “and for sharing such a <em>lovely</em> night in his bedchambers.”</p><p>“<em>Merlin!</em>” Arthur lobs a pillow at his manservant, who is gleefully running towards the door.</p><p>“Breakfast coming right up, special for His Royal Wench, Prince Gwaine!” Merlin shouts over his shoulder, dodging another pillow, and yesterday’s goblet, clanging on the wood as he shuts the door behind him. But even Merlin can’t keep up the mirth for long, his own last words echoing in his head as he walks to the kitchens. For Arthur is no prince. Gwaine and courting jokes aside, Arthur Pendragon must now assume title as King of Camelot.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i tried to keep this as plausible to canon as possible! so many scenes just out of reach that are filled with glorious tension, needed to write out at least one.</p><p>i'm very new to fanfic so feedback is super welcome!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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